Trip Report-Day 4-Grand Cayman.....NOT

Trip Report-Day 4 12/2/08-Grand Cayman....NOT

Awoke this morning to the Captains voice telling us something we had heard from a friend of ours that works on the ship the night before. Due to high winds the Grand Cayman port authority had closed the harbor and no ships would be allowed to dock due to the high winds. So we sailed by the isalnd and continued on to Mexico for a day at sea. We really weren't heartbroken as we never get of the ship in Grand Cayman anymore anyways due to having to tender. Spent the day reading and enjoying the beauty of the Disney Magic. The show in the theatre that night was a showing of Bolt which I greatly enjoyed and then it was time for dinner and of course it was Pirates in the Caribbean night. After a steady downpour they finally shot the fireworks off and we viewed them from our usual uncrowded spot, The hot tub at the Quiet Cove Pool. Following that it was time to go shopping and I bought all my gifts for everyone and picked up the purchase with purchase rolling duffel bag since I was going to need more luggage to carry off all the things I bought..=) Went to bed looking forward to Cozumel and our tour of the Tulum Ruins. We were also told that the ship was going to stay in Cozumel until 1am so we would have lots of time to shop after our excursion as well.

The Atrium decked out in Christmas Magic
This was as close as we got to Grand Cayman.

Wave to Grand Cayman

So near, yet so far.

See you next time Grand Cayman =)

1 more addition from the drydock

I have one more new addition to the Disney Magic that I forgot to post in a previous blog entry. I had this picture posted but for some reason when you clicked it, it didn't enlarge to a full screen picture. So I have reposted it. This is the new toddler splash area on the Magic, the Wonder got one of these last year in its drydock.

As with all my pictures on the blog feel free to click them to make them larger and use them for Computer Wallpaper. Decorate your desktop with the Magic and Wonder of the Disney Cruise Line.

Trip Report-Day 3- Sea Day

Trip Report-Day 3-12/1/08

Day at Sea

Awoke this morning to my favorite kind of day, a day at sea. To me nothing is more relaxing than having the whole day to lounge around without worrying about shore excurions and getting up early to get off the ship and do the ports. Instead we got to sleep in and lounge around all day. Had our usual breakfast at Topsiders which we always then take the breakfast tray over to the family pool and watch Playhouse Disney on the ArielView TV, what can I say Josh and I are a couple of Disney nerds..hehe.

Lunch was an Italian Buffet at Topsiders and Parrot Cay. We always went to Topsiders. Spent the majority of the day by the pool reading, I brought along 4 books and managed to put them all away. My reading list was Wicked, Twilight, Shopaholic and Sister and Undomestic Goddess. Quite a variety of reading material...=)

Saw the Golden Mickey's in the Walt Disney Theatre. Something we never miss are the 3 main stage shows even though we have seen them all almost 10 times it is one of the highlights of the cruise for us.

Dinner that night was in Parrot Cay for formal night. Got to have the new Golden Mickey Menu for the first time, had the Ginger and Lime Swordfish which was really good.

After dinner it was a reading night in Cove Cafe and then bed to get ready for Grand Cayman, which we would find out wasn't going to happen...more on that in the next report.

Enjoy some pictures taken during our day at sea, below.

Gangway Damage

During our cruise last week I had heard that the strong storm that hit us in Key West causing us to leave early had caused some damage at the Disney Terminal back in Port Canaveral so when we returned we saw for ourself just how bad it was.

The storm had ripped the metal gangway completely off of the rest of the walkway onto the ship.

So when we departed Saturday morning instead of going through the atrium and into the terminal and downstairs to get our luggage we departed via Deck 1 Aft and Forward and just walked from the pier directly into the luggage area.

Was told it would take 6-8 weeks to repair the damage so anyone going on a cruise for a while will be entering the ship by Deck 1 and not through the Atrium as usual. Don't know how Disney will do the welcome aboard for each family like normal but I'm sure they will find someway to make things Magical still.

Trip Report-Day 2 -Key West

Day 2-Key West

Woke up early in the morning and caught the tail end of the beautiful sunrise. Always wonderful to wake up to the Disney Magic. Christian, who was our cruise director this trip came over the PA to announce that due to an approaching front our time in Key West was going to be cut short and the all aboard time was now 6:00pm instead of 7:30pm. No biggie since in Key West we usually just stroll the shops and have lunch.

Got off the ship and headed to our favorite lunch spot, Bagatelle located on Duval Street.

Had a yummy lunch and then headed out to shop along Duval St. On the way back on the other side we stopped at the Blonde Giraffe for some frozen Key Lime Pie on a stick...a must have on our trips to Key West. After strolling through Mallory Square and a few more shopping stops it was back to the ship for us and to the Quiet Cove Pool for some pooltime.

Around 5:45 that night the wind and rain came up terribly and it looked like a hurricane from our veranda. We didn't get to leave at 6pm due to what sounded like some guests not onboard yet as they were paged 3 times. Finally we left and since we figured with the wind and rain the sea might be a little bumpy we skipped Animators Pallete and tried something new for dinner. We headed up to Topsiders for the Casual Dining. We will definitely do it again next time, had a great dinner, quiet, and we were sat right next to the window looking down at the sea. This became our "Palo" night as we always do Palo but skipped it this time and ended up with a quiet Adult Only meal with a view of the ocean without having to dress up.

After that it was our usual routine, we went to Sessions for a cocktail and some music with Daryl Lockhart on piano before retiring to bed to let the Magic rock us to sleep.

Approaching Key West
The dock at Key West

Mallory Square from the ship

Key West Art Museum

Bagatelle, our favorite lunch spot in Key West

More of Bagatelle

You can see the wind was already starting to blow pretty strong and this pic was taken about 1:30pm

One more of Bagatelle

The Magic docked in Key West

Roosters strolling around the town

Entrance to Mallory Square

More of Mallory Square

Key West art museum to the right with the Magic docked in the background

Key West at night as we were leaving with the rain coming down and the wind howling.

Trip Report-Stateroom Pics

Trip Report-Stateroom Pic 11/29-12/6/2008

Here are some photos from our stateroom from our recent 7 night cruise.

We had room 6642, a Navigator Vernada.

We were in the Aft section of the ship otherwise known as the back of the ship..=) I love nautical launguage.

Contrary to what I have read on some Newsboards on the internet, I noticed no wear and tear issues with this stateroom. Everything was in tip top shape. The ship is 10 years old so a little wear is expected. However the carpet looked great, everything was in great working order.

Our stateroom door

A peak outside at our Navigators Veranda

A view from the veranda looking back towards the door. Notice the new 22 inch LCD flat screen TV


A view from the door looking towards the Veranda



A queen size bed, you can also request them to split the bed and it turns into 2 twin beds if you need the space.

The 1/2 bath. The tub/shower and sink are located in this one.

The other bathroom features the Toliet and sink as well as a shelving unit.

A view of the closrt, drawers and the steamer trunk which contains more storage space.

A closer look at our veranda. Notice the bench, table and the dials under the opening are Thermometer, Clock and Barometer

The other side of the Veranda, with a chair

Trip Report-Day 1

Here we go with my trip report for my 7 night Western cruise. November 29-December 6, 2008.

Day 1-Embarkation Day

Josh and I left the house at 9:30 in the morning and we arrived at Port Canaveral at 10:45.

Check in was smooth as always and we received Boarding number 10. I was surprised by the amount of kids and by the fact that the terminal was already quite busy only 15 minutes after it had opened. Bummed around the terminal until it was time to board. Number 10 was called and it was finally time to get back onboard the Disney Magic for the 5th time and our 9th Disney Cruise overall. Had a yummy lunch at Parrot Cay. This time we were smart and wore our bathing suits under our clothes so we went and spent an hour or so in the pool and hot tub. Our room was ready so we headed down and to my surprise our luggage arrived around 2:30, the earliest I can ever remeber our luggage being ready. After unpacking and the boat drill it was time to sail away which we watched from the pool. The water in the pool was so nice and warm the whole time, according to the tv channel the pool was 86 degrees, felt nice.

Dinner our first night was in Lumiere's. We had rotation LAPAPLA with an 8:15 dining time. Met our server Putu and our assistant Rina who were wonderful for the entire week.

After dinner and some more pool time it was an early night to bed as the first day and all the excitement of being back onboard the glorious Disney Magic just wears me out =)

We are getting close, I can see the Magic

Even closer to the Magic

Christmas decor in the Terminal

Some more Christmas cheer

The tree in the Terminal

There she is the most gorgeous ship afloat. Took this from the balcony outside the terminal

Another shot from the outside terminal balcony

The terminal building from our stateroom veranda

Port Canaveral from our veranda

More of Port Canaveral and the Disney Cruise Line parking lot